ICH BIN KUNST!

"gimme a freak...any day of the week...i'm comfortable with those you call demented" ~Boy George

and for the most part i usually am

here's a lil history lesson of someone you'll probably never learn about in school...but is completely worth take'n the time to check him out

one of the most influential figures in the 1980's and 1990's from London to New York in the art and fashion circles was LEIGH BOWERY

born March 26 1961 in Sunshine, Victoria...a small suburb of Melbourne, Australia...

LEIGH was an performance artist...club promoter...actor...pop star...model and fashion designer...who made a name for himself when he moved to London in the 1980's

LEIGH has inspired generations of artists and designers with his avante garde style and over-the-top designs thru-out the fashion...art and club worlds

with the likes of fashion designers like Alexander McQueen...

Vivienne Westwood...

and John Galliano

Sigmund Freud's grandson and famed painter Lucian Freud

famed photographer David LaChapelle

and singers like Antony and the Johnsons...

Lady GaGa...

Beth Ditto of GOSSIP...

and of course...my fav-o-rit...BOY GEORGE...to name a few

refer'n to himself as the underground artist "THE TWIN" during 2003/2004

LEIGH was also featured in a major campaign ad for Pepe jeans in London back in the 90's

LEIGH started the infamous disco club night "Taboo" in January 1985...

originally opened as an underground discotheque...

TABOO soon became London's Studio 54...though it was way more extreme and fashionable...and without the masses of celebrities...although the celebrities soon came flocking in later

LEIGH was the nude subject of several of Lucian Freud's later portraits...

and travelled internationally to the open'n events of his exhibitions...the model'n LEIGH did...gave him a decent live'n for a period and he loved the attention he got with Freud's connections to the British establishment

LEIGH was played by BOY GEORGE in both the London and Broadway stage musical Taboo that was based on the New Romantic movement of the 1980's...

which also featured others from the new romantics scene...

like MARILYN

STEVE STRANGE of VISAGE...

and of course BOY GEORGE and his good friend PHILLIP SALON

among many other new romantics on the scene in the early 1980's

include'n his close friend SUE TILLEY

the musical...which was written by Mark Davies

and the brilliant score written by BOY GEORGE

was a London West End hit

Rosie O'Donnell financed the show a few years later

Charles Busch rewrote the production for Broadway

and was nominated for several Tony's include'n best score by Boy George

this x-c-lent dvd about the LEGEND of LEIGH BOWERY is worth check'n out

or for you book worms...this one cover'n LEIGH's LOOKS is worth leave'n out on the coffee table for guests

though TABOO was over by early 1987...

LEIGH was at the very heart of London's alternative fashion movement

LEIGH once said "i want to be the Andy Warhol of London"

in 1993 LEIGH briefly formed the band Raw Sewage with leading clubbers Sheila Tequila and Stella Stein

and also in 1993 LEIGH formed the band Minty with friend Richard Torry Nicola Bateman and Matthew Glammore...

their single "Useless Man" caused The Sun newspaper to describe them as the "sickest band in the world"...

which LEIGH was very proud of

the single became a minor chart hit in The Netherlands

LEIGH never had a problem say'n he was gay and on May 13 1994 he married his longtime friend Nicola Bateman

Johnny Rozsa's photographs of LEIGH have been exhibited in several museums..

including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney

the Kunsthalle in Vienna...

and the Kunstverein in Hanover

at the time of his height of notoriety...

AIDS and hard drugs had influenced the scene...

causing the death of his best friend and former lover Trojan

LEIGH would end up goin thru a severe depression...

which later would turn him look'n for solace by "cottage'n" at too many restrooms around london

LEIGH was thrilled when he finally got the chance to meet BOY GEORGE

and design some looks for him when he left Culture Club in the late 80's

though...the cottage'n would eventually catch up with LEIGH...

and more than likely when LEIGH had contracted HIV

LEIGH kept this a closely guarded secret from most of his friends...except his wife NICOLA...which he told her to tell those who asked where he went once he passed on...

"tell them i've gone pig farming in Bolivia"

being HIV-positive during the late 80's and early 90's was seen as a death sentence and there was much fear and discrimination to be faced...

LEIGH didn't wanna be remembered as an artist with AIDS...

feeling it would overshadow any of his artistic achievements

LEIGH BOWERY died 31 December 1994 on new year's eve

one of LEIGH's last requests was that his middle name not ever be known